Ohioana Library Association

10/15/2026

The big day is here!

Tonight at 7:00pm, join us on Zoom as we celebrate the 2026 Ohio Book Awards!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-ohio-book-awards-tickets-1999267988372?keep_tld=true

Register via EventBrite or stream via the Ohio Channel!

10/08/2026

Just one week to go until the 2026 Ohio Book Awards!

Join us at 7:00pm on Thursday, October 15 to celebrate this year's winners. We will be in studio at Ohio Channel for this live event! Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-ohio-book-awards-tickets-1999267988372

09/21/2026

Congratulations to Wil Haygood - his 2026 book The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home (Knopf/Penguin Random House) has been named to the 2026 National Book Award Longlist!

Wil Haygood is the author of ten nonfiction books, including The Butler, which was made into a film directed by Lee Daniels. Haygood has been a correspondent for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He received the Dayton Literary Peace Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. A Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, Haygood is currently the Boadway Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Miami University in Ohio, and has recently been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Wil has also won and been a finalist for the Ohio Book Award, several times.

National Book Award finalists will be announced on October 6 and the 77th annual ceremony will be livestreamed on Wednesday, November 18: https://www.nationalbook.org/awards2026/

(Photo credit: Pro Photo, Inc)

09/15/2026

The Ohioana newsletter is back!

Check out what's new at Ohioana - including details about our recent move, our new executive director Dr. Amelia Adams, the 2026 Ohio Book Award winners, and more!

E-mail [email protected] if you would like to be added to our mailing list and receive future newsletters, announcements, and information about the Ohioana Library Association.

https://www.ohioana.org/programs/publications/newsletter/

08/28/2026

Don't miss this exciting Thurber House event! Tickets are still available!

September 6: One stage, FOUR powerhouse authors! 🤩 This is an evening NOT to be missed—plus, get a signed book before its release! 😁📖

Headliner Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker 📗) will be in conversation with special guests (and fellow poets) Ernest Cline (author of Ready Player One 📕), Hanif Abdurraqib Poetry (author of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us 📘), and Scott Woods (author of Black Night Is Falling 📙).

Learn more and register! ➡️ thurberhouse.org/events

___________________
Barbara Fant Greater Columbus Arts Council Ohio Arts Council Experience Columbus Ohioana Library Association

08/26/2026

Yesterday was a sad day with the loss of the legendary Dolly Parton. Dolly once said that she claimed Ohio as her second state, since she came to visit family here when she was young. You can read more about Fran DeWine, Dolly Parton, and the Imagination Library of Ohio in Ohioana's Summer 2021 Ohioana Quarterly!https://www.ohioana.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/OQ-Summer-2021-1.pdf

08/11/2026

Congratulations to Juliet Del Rio!

Juliet is the winner of the 2026 Ohioana Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant! Established in honor of Ohioana Library’s second director, Walter Rumsey Marvin, the grant is a $1,000 award given annually to an Ohio writer 30 years of age or younger (as of January 31) who has not yet published a book. The grant will be presented at the 85th annual Ohio Book Awards on October 15 (registration link coming soon).

Juliet holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Drexel University, teaches college composition, and works as a content strategist at a creative marketing agency. Her fiction was shortlisted for the 2023 Lascaux Prize in Flash Fiction, and her children's play received a 2020 Story Medicine grant from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also a trained master gardener.

Learn more about Juliet and all of the 2026 winners: https://www.ohioana.org/programs/ohio-book-awards/

08/10/2026

The Ohioana Library is pleased to announce the winners of the 85th annual Ohio Book Awards. First given in 1942, the awards are the second oldest state literary prizes in the nation and honor outstanding works by Ohio authors and illustrators in six categories: Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade Literature, Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction. The seventh category, Book About Ohio or an Ohioan, may include books by non-Ohio authors.

About Ohio/An Ohioan:
John U. Bacon. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. New York, NY: Liveright Publishing, 2025.

Fiction:
Patrick Ryan. Buckeye. New York, NY: Penguin Random House, 2025.

Juvenile:
Jashar Awan. Every Monday Mabel. New York, NY: SimonKIDS, 2025.

Middle Grade
Rosalyn Ransaw. Smoke & Mirrors. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2025.

Nonfiction
John Green. Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. New York, NY: Crash Course Books, 2025.

Poetry:
Arah Ko. Brine Orchid: Poems. Portland, OR: YesYes Books, 2025.

Young Adult:
Mindy McGinnis. How Girls are Made. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2025.

Readers’ Choice:
Marty Ross-Dolen. Always There, Always Gone: A Daughter's Search for Truth. Berkeley, CA: She Writes Press, 2025.

The 2026 Ohio Book Awards will take place online on Zoom, on Thursday, October 15 at 7:00pm, and is free to attend. Details to come! https://www.ohioana.org/programs/ohio-book-awards/

Congratulations to all of our winners!

08/01/2026

On August 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM, join us for a special tribute to the incredible works of Toni Morrison, in celebration of Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison . In partnership with Ohio Poetry Association , we'll dive into Morrison's powerful poetry and discuss the impact of her words on literature and society. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with fellow poets and honor a literary legend. There will be an Open Mic following this event!

Registration closes on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 5 p.m. EDT. The Zoom link and any handouts will be sent to registrants at that time.

Register here for this free event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-the-poetry-of-toni-morrison-virtual-event-tickets-1981814479457?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

for more information, visit OPC online: https://www.ohiopoetryassn.org/events

07/31/2026

IN CASE YOU READ THIS by Edward Underhill is a 2026 Ohio Book Award Finalist, in the Young Adult Literature category!

Arden isn’t excited about moving. Los Angeles was an easy place to fit in and find a supportive q***r community. But Winifred, Michigan? That sounds like a much more difficult place to exist.

Pasadena, California, is the perfect city for Gabe’s reinvention. Everyone knew everything about him in small-town Shelby, Illinois. Gabe, who wants to be out and proud, can’t wait to relocate.

When Arden and Gabe randomly meet in the lobby of a motel in Nebraska, it feels like fate. Both are trans, but more importantly, both are huge fans of the band Damaged Pixie Dream Boi. Clearly, the universe is trying to tell them something. Right?

But after an incredible evening of hanging out, the pair part ways only knowing the other’s first name. And as both boys struggle to adjust to their new homes, their thoughts keep being drawn back to their time together. Is one perfect night enough to bring Arden and Gabe back to each other, or will the boys need some help to find each other again?

Edward Underhill grew up in the suburbs of Wisconsin, where he could not walk to anything, so he had to make up his own adventures. He studied music in college at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio , spent several years living in very small apartments in New York, and currently resides in California with his partner and a talkative black cat. He is the author of THE IN-BETWEEN BOOKSTORE as well the YA novels ALWAYS THE ALMOST, THIS DAY CHANGES EVERYTHING, AND IN CASE YOU READ THIS. His books have earned starred reviews, been named Indie Next and ALA Rainbow List selections and LibraryReads Top 10 picks, and been included on numerous “best of the year” lists, including from YALSA, School Library Journal, and Booklist.